ACL compiles a daily media monitoring service of stories of interest to the Christian constituency relating to children, family, drugs and alcohol, marriage, human rights, religious freedom etc. Visit the ACL’s website each day to see what’s of interest in the news. Please note that selection of the articles does not represent ACL endorsement of the content.

Family minded people often complain, with reason, about the United Nations approach to family issues. Ms Kaczmarska was invited to Spain by the International Federation for Family Development and The Family Watch to speak about the priorities of the UN body leading up to the 20th anniversary of the UN Year of the Family.

As the flag-draped coffins of three Aussie Diggers gunned down by a rogue Afghan soldier started their final trip home last night, beautiful images emerged of Lance Corporal Luke Gavin with his family just before his tour of duty.

Do you get on well with your husband or wife? And how much do you trust your local council? The answers to these questions are among the ten signs the Government believes best sum up Britain’s happiness. The list, published yesterday, will form David Cameron’s ‘happiness survey’ upon which future Coalition policies could be based.

Teaching history that never happened is a new movement in academic circles where students are challenged to think about history in a different light. University of Adelaide School of Education lecturer Dr Grant Rodwell said academic historians were now considering the place of "counterfactual" history in their courses.

Religion is often used by people on different sides of debates to bolster a case: either to support an argument, or as a "straw" target to reject an argument, writes Joel Hodge in the Drum on the ABC. This can be seen recently in debates on gay marriage and euthanasia. For example, Tory Shepherd (in the Punch) claimed that taking "religion out of the conversation" would leave few moral arguments against euthanasia.

Tom Waterhouse has driven me to this. The scion of the Waterhouse racing family appearing far too often on my television to declare that while he possessed no actual talent he would happily part me with my money was – as they say – the last straw. Watching the Wallabies get smashed by the Kiwis in the World Cup was hard enough without watching Waterhouse continually pop up on my screen asking for cash like some transient beggar.

With the Queen having sprinkled her magic on our nation, and the sniff of the sport of kings in the air, a battle royal is fast brewing over pokies. On one side are Australia’s bunyip aristocracy and elite. Rich, powerful and masterfully connected, they are used to getting their way.

Broadcasting betting odds during live sporting events would be banned and voluntary pre-commitment introduced under a Coalition gambling policy to be announced today. The Coalition also wants to prohibit betting firms from offering credit in any form to gamblers, look at introducing a "national self-exclusion scheme" to stop problem gamblers entering clubs and to train staff to monitor gamblers, similar to a "responsible service of alcohol" policy.

On any given night in Victoria more than 20,000 people are homeless, with many trapped in a cycle of long-term homelessness. Now a radical approach to supporting the homeless in St Kilda is exposing why the existing system of crisis intervention fails to break the long-term cycle.

THE ethics of the commercial news media is undermined, the public esteem for it is depressed and it is conflicted by the business interests of its owners, according to a critical submission by the Greens leader, Bob Brown, to the print media inquiry.

Our crew was on hand on two occasions when Coptic Christians and Muslim allies clashed with military and police near the government television station. In the second clash at least 27 people were killed and three injured. Foreign Correspondent was one of the few media teams able to enter the Coptic Hospital morgue where the dead, many of them squashed by armoured personnel carriers, had been brought.

In mid-October Egyptian media published news of an altercation between Muslim and Christian students over a classroom seat at a school in Mallawi, Minya province. The altercation lead to the murder of a Christian student. The media portrayed the incident as non-sectarian. However, Copts Without Borders, a Coptic news website, refuted this version and was first to report that the Christian student was murdered because he was wearing a crucifix.

Mohammad Amer, a Salafi Sheikh in Damanhur, Egypt, issued a fatwa prohibiting votes for any Christian, secular or liberal candidate, as well as any Muslim candidate who does not pray daily or call for the implementation of Shariah law.

Seven people, including two children, drowned and more than 20 are missing after their Australian-bound vessel sank off Java yesterday. Last night Indonesian authorities were searching for the missing, with the death toll expected to rise.

An open letter to 'Shooty', who committed suicide in Villawood detention centre last week. Dear 'Shooty', I've just watchved our Prime Minister talking about shared Commonwealth values in Perth. My mind turned at once to you and your solitary, late-night death in Villawood detention centre last week.

It will require good leadership for Australia to become a successfully ageing society. Over the next twenty years, due to the baby-boomer generation, the number of Australians aged 65 years and over is projected to nearly double from around 3.2 million to approximately 6.2 million people.